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Nottingham Forest have experienced an upturn in fortunes in recent weeks following a dismal run of form which saw them pick up just one point from a possible 27 at the foot of the Championship table.
In an attempt to stop the rot, Chris Hughton has freshened things up with the introduction of younger personnel which has had its desired effect. With Forest due to welcome back former manager, Aitor Karanka to the City Ground on Boxing Day, one particular youngster won’t want Birmingham’s manager to be leaving with the headlines.
Having spent an hour in the talking in the dressing room after the 2-1 defeat to Norwich City, it was followed up by a fairly despondent reaction in a 3-1 home defeat to Brentford. With the dark clouds still looming over the Nottinghamshire club, captain Joe Worrall’s post-match interview questioned some of his teammate’s attitude and desire to lift Forest out of a difficult spot, ”We need to pull together, it’s a time for men”.
Thankfully for Forest supporters, the call has been heeded and there has been an improvement in attitude and a noted togetherness.
In order to change things after such a dreadful run, manager Chris Hughton opted to bring teenage forward Alex Mighten into his starting line-up.
With many of Forest’s more experienced members failing to have any real impact in turning their team’s fortunes around and having waited patiently in the wings, the diminutive forward has played his part in injecting some much-needed optimism at the club.
American born Mighten, god-son of Forest legend Des Walker, is a youngster that Forest fans are already familiar with, having made 18 first-team appearances since breaking into the squad last season under the departed Sabri Lamouchi.
Having developed a big reputation through the academy set-up, the 18-year-old has been capped by England at under 15 to under 18 levels. Prior to signing his first professional contract with the club, there were even rumours of Manchester United’s interest in the youngster.
It’s not always been plain sailing for Forest and Mighten as patience has been key during his time in the academy ranks.
Due to his slight physical stature, he played at the younger age levels in order not to harm his development. The rewards have been evident as the forward now finds himself a first-team player since graduating from Gary Brazil’s excellent academy system at the club.
The 18-year-old’s ‘stand up and take notice’ performance in the 3rd round FA Cup defeat to Chelsea last January, had Mighten’s name on the lips of fans who had known little about him previously.
He had more than encouraging debut against the Premier League opposition with his direct running, and only a combination of VAR and more belief from his teammates prevented him from having a more significant impact on the afternoon.
Forest’s patience with his development remained, however, whilst Mighten had threatened to stake a claim for a first-team spot after such a bright debut, the club turned elsewhere with Adama Diakhaby and Nuno Da Costa bought in to provide some much-needed firepower in attack.
Whilst Lamouchi decided against blooding his youngster straight away, he still finished the season positively, making a far greater lasting impression than the two aforementioned January arrivals (both no longer with the club).
Reduced to game time coming off the bench, Mighten showed plenty of promise with opportunities that came his way.
A positive impact against Derby County that could have seen him grab a winning goal in the 1-1 draw at Pride Park and a spirited showing in the 2-2 home draw with Swansea City, where Swans full-back Kyle Naughton was sent off for a scathing tackle on the youngster, showed the potential Mighten could make at Championship level.
Considering the scale of Forest’s demise in the final few weeks of last season, perhaps Lamouchi was right to shield his young player from those circumstances.
Now a third into the 2020/21 season, a number of consistent performers from that campaign are still struggling to shift the hangover.
Following Forest’s poor start and having lost an advocate in Lamouchi, Mighten has had to bide his time further under Chris Hughton.
Club footage from a training ground session saw Mighten score a cracking goal that wouldn’t have gone unnoticed as the new manager and his backroom team watched on from the touchline.
Picking the ball up from around the halfway line, Mighten showed Jack Colback a clean pair of heels following a strong challenge, before racing to the edge of the box and finishing cooly past Brice Samba in goal. It was an impressive strike.
However, waiting for the chance to do that type of thing has been somewhat of a patient game for Mighten as Hughton has confessed that he’s still learning about his over-bloated squad of players.
With Forest struggling for goals, the youngster has been down the pecking order of an attack that boasts the likes of Sammy Ameobi, Joe Lolley, Anthony Knockaert and Luke Freeman.
“We have some great players, especially in my position and that is good as it gives us healthy competition and it keeps pushing me. I want to get into this team and it is only going to push me harder knowing that I have got good players to compete with. I just try and play my normal game and hopefully that gets me to where I want to be.” – Alex Mighten
As supporters feared being dragged into a relegation battle, Mighten made the most of his first start of the season against Sheffield Wednesday, playing his part in the recent and welcome victory. With Anthony Knockaert available after suspension, Hughton stuck with Mighten once more at the weekend as Forest came away with a decent point against Millwall in a 1-1 draw.
He didn’t let his manager down, grabbing his first senior goal as he put in another positive performance on the left-hand side of Forest’s attack.
He posed Millwall full-back, Mahlon Romeo, plenty of problems before being replaced in the 74th minute. In the first half, Mighten was unlucky not to get on the end of an overhit Lewis Grabban cross in the six-yard box, and the experienced striker certainly didn’t do the youngster any favours later in the half.
Forest’s no.48 burst last the Millwall backline around the halfway mark, he looked to be clean through on goal before Grabban unwittingly touched the ball in an offside position to curtail the attack.
Alert to the danger that the winger was presenting, Romeo was reduced to making his mark on the youngster with a bruising ‘welcome to The Den’ type tackle that earned the defender a yellow card.
Despite Romeo’s warning shot, Mighten remained undeterred and didn’t have to wait too much longer to seize his next opportunity.
Forest had gone behind to a Tom Bradshaw goal, Mighten showed minutes later why he could be the answer to getting Forest’s season back on track.
Getting onto a long ball from the defence, he showed great anticipation to latch onto the pass as it moved too quickly for Grabban to control. Coming infield, the youngster read the play perfectly to get behind the defence and beat Bartosz Bialkowski with a nudged volley into the empty net.
Image: Reuters
Whilst Chris Hughton felt that the youngster had a ‘quiet game’, Forest’s inability or reluctance to work the play down the left-hand side was perhaps more to do with Mighten not making more of an impact.
With Romeo already on a booking, Forest could have exploited the situation but failed to encourage the fleet-footed youngster further by getting him on the ball more often.
In that sense, Mighten will have to earn his teammates and manager’s trust but having waited a little longer, than he would have wanted to get his chance, he won’t want to give up his shirt easily.
Despite his tender years, Mighten has shown a maturity to his play, a young player who understands his role in the side particularly from a defensive aspect.
The 18-year-old’s match statistics showed an 100% pass completion and given the Reds inability to keep hold of the ball as a collective, the attributes to retain possession and run past defenders will be a most welcome commodity as Joe Lolley and Anthony Knockaert still search to find their best form.
If it is to be a season of transition for Forest, this could be the ideal opportunity to blood Mighten further, if they can lay any lingering relegation concerns to rest. His nimble feet, low centre of gravity and explosive pace certainly make him a young player to keep an eye on in the Championship.
He’ll be hoping to pour water on ex-Forest boss Aitor Karanka’s return, as the Spaniard comes back to The City Ground for the first time since his unceremonious departure in January 2019.
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